Isnt a HVAC way cheaper to run? Space Heaters have a efficeny of 100% or below. A HVAC/Heat Pump should be way above that. I cant speak for HVACs because I never owned one, but Heat Pumps are around 250-500% efficent. Meaning that they convert 1kw of electrical power into 2,5-5kW of heat. A space heater might only be good in rooms that dont have HVAC or Central Heating, in which case a infrared heater is a good alternativ, but thats down to preference I guess.
I have an office in my basement, I use a smart space heater in the office. I also use one in the basement bathroom so it's not freezing when I get out of the shower and it shuts off automatically when there's nobody in the room for 30 minutes. Both of mine are wall mounted units. My automations are handled through Alexa and they are both through tuya.
I typically keep my house cold at night, so I use a standard plug-in space heater with a smart plug for my daughter's room. The plug is configured in SmartThings to turn on or off at certain temperatures using an Ecobee room sensor during the overnight hours. It works pretty well, but I think a smart space heater would be simpler and more reliable. Great video, Reed. Might pick one of these up. 👍
Why is your circuit breaker outside? Could a criminal potentially turn off all your security and steal your stuff? I would have placed the circuit breaker inside.
For the dual space heater tripping the breaker problem, add power-sensing power plugs to confirm the first one is off before turning the second one on. If the first one does not turn off within a timeframe, loop the off command until it is confirmed off, then turn on the second one. (The smart plugs are for power sensing only, not to turn the heaters on/off.)
I'd rather have a dumb (CHEAP) space heater that turns on when the outlet is given power. Then I'd just use Home Assistant to manage the entire climate function (with temp sensors in the room). Actually, this IS what I do. Edit: And Home Assistant has them scheduled for the two on the same circuit - only one can be on at a time. On 1 hour/Off 1 hour, alternating. And on HA reboot/restart, it just turns them both off until the next schedule period to prevent both from being on if the reboot happens at the top of the hour.
Yes! I’m so frustrated that our $70 (adjusted for today’s prices) tower fan requires pressing a button after it gets power to turn on, and no option to “remember previous state”. The crappy $20 fan we have (noisy) can be “smartified” and integrated into home assistant much easier, no IR blasters or anything similar.
@@F_K3NT_D perhaps yes, but I have full local control without another third party app and the security and other problems they bring. And I can also use the smart receptacle year round when the heater is in the closet.
I have the smaller one in my bathroom and the tower in my living room...both are in my RV. They are on seperate circuits, so no tripped breakers. I love being able to program them with the app. The best part of the app is that you can go into the settings menu and calibrate the heater's thermostat.
You can use the govee API to get it into home assistant and automate, this allowed me to use an aqara temperature sensor attached to my sons crib (the built in one is junk) and turned it on and off if it was above 73 or below 68. Works great, a bit of a pain to get the api setup, but there is some really good documentation for getting it into home assistant.
I have one that looks like an Edwardian fireplace. It also works as a nightlight. My previous apartment hvac wasn’t working well because they kept stalling on fixing a 2 dollar part. So it was cheaper to use my heater. I used a smart plug and could program it to turn on or off. I have thermal curtains up and even have two in the bedroom doorway so at night I can keep the bedroom warm without trying to heat the entire place up. I am in a warmer state this year but I will still set it up, just in case.
I haven't played around with the Google stuff before, but can you check that the other heater is if before turning the other one on? You probably cant even check that. If there is an outlet that would handle the amount of power the heaters use that might help. I only have Govee lights so I don't know if there is a HACS integration for Govee heaters, but I'm almost sure there is. Even if you use the Google SDK integration to control the Govee devices but us HA to automate it, that would probably work great. Though, the Google SDK integration uses the Govee tap-to-run scenes or whatever they are called. Not sure if the heaters do that.. Anyway, cool idea.
Great video as always, thanks Reed! It's so annoying that Google won't let you properly automate space heaters, "safety rails" are the most frustrating thing in home automation. I understand how it can be dangerous, but let me turn on "advanced mode" or something, make me sign a waiver that I'm responsible for my own choices. I should be able to do whatever I want with the hardware I own, the artificial gates are so frustrating
Use an energy monitoring smart plug to get feedback to see if the heater is still on. I use this method to smartify my "dumb" electric fireplace. I have a maximum on-time limit of 2 hours, after which the Hubitat shuts off the smart plug power. Then 2 seconds later, turns the smart plug on again. When power comes back up, the fireplace "boots" and is off. I use a Broadlink IR blaster to turn on the fireplace.
If you replace the breaker with double rating you can run 2 heaters and there is a bonus - your wall wiring will heat up and provide additional heat to the rooms. . . . . For those commenting not to do this, buy a sense of humor, this was obviously a joke 😂
Govee has auto-run, so you can use that to say if one heater turns on, another turns off. Personally I use auto run to have my heater turn on at 70 degrees and off at 71.2 degrees, always at the low setting. You can get external temperature and humidity sensors from Govee and pair them with their heaters for better temperature control.
Any reason you do not just smart plugs to control these, when one is on the other goes off. Also that way any dumb heater becomes smarter. Also if you have an alarm you can set it up when you activate your alarm at home it automatically switches off all Heaters connected to Smart plugs. Nice safety feature. My Goveelife Space heater just turned up today. Have something to set up this weekend.
I know right! Well only part of my house even gets chilly. The kitchen area is south facing so it stays perfectly at 70 degrees all winter long. The north part of the house gets colder.
Were you able to get the Govee heater into Home Assistant. If so can you share how you did that or point me in the right direction. I got the small heater you recommended but I can't seem to get it into Home Assistant to be able to write an automation. Thanks
I've been looking for a smart space heater that incorporates into home assistant recently. I was looking at these or the heat storm (tuya) ones but I seem like they require the cloud to work, which isn't ideal. It would be really nice if the local tuya or govee integration in HA supported space heaters. Nonetheless, it looks like I might just need to result to a dumb spaceheater with a smart plug with energy monitoring attached to it.
What size breaker do you guys have in the US on 110v? Im in the UK and just got one these it pulls max 1.5Kw so at 230v that only 6.5 Amps. Our socket rings are on a 32amp circuit so I could run 4 of these no problem as any other bits like TV etc don't really use any power.
This is where the Zooz Zen 15 really shines. You can use the power monitoring of the Zen 15 to augment your automations. Now, you'll always know if and when a heater is drawing power from a given receptacle.
When your kids are old enough for phones and computers and tvs and other things you’re gonna probably have that circuit breaker tripping a lot my friend, especially if they’re on the same circuit
Interesting. Dyson heaters manufactured after March 2019 can't control heat via the app due to UL 1278 standards. I assume the Govee heaters aren't complying or aren't UL rated.
Great video but the google programming is beyond my ability. I have the small space heater and thermometer hooked up but it keeps turning off. How do you set them on your phone to operate 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. It is in “”Auto” with 50F set temp and “Auto Stop” but must be doing something wrong with the “Scheduling”. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Mike
I have my dumb parabolic heater plugged into a zooz zen15 smart plug. Zooz doesn't like it because it's on their "do not use" list. They claimed in-rush current would destroy the plug. Bollocks. I'm a retired industrial electrician and still have my Fluke 337 which will measure in-rush current. The Zen15 is rated at 15 amps. My heater has a 2.7 amp in-rush current which is actually less than the running current when the heater element is hot. My continous running amp reading is 3.4 amps. In-rush current depends on what alloy the heating element. Zooz's other claim is that the Underwriter's Lab forbids plugging a space heater into a smart plug. Consider this: if you plug it into a duplex outlet, turn it on and forget to turn it off when you leave the house, what are you going to do? A smart plug allows you to turn it off remotely, turn it on or off as part of a routine, or let a smoke detector turn it off.
I have a space heater that has a remote control. I worked around turning on and off by using both a smart plug and ir blasting. I made part of the of turn on/off script to turn the smart plug on and off. I also have it set to regulate according to room temperature. This feature is only available if both my wife and I are in bed.
I have a problem idk you can solve! I need a space heater that auto turns on when the temp dips below a certain temp BUT also can schedule it to increase a temp at a certain time? I have a special need kiddo who won’t sleep with blankets but around 3am her room gets colder than the set 72 degrees on the heater she’s also sensitive to lights
Yup. 230v here in Aus. 16amp circuit breakers. We also can get 2400w heaters instead of 1800w since we have more volts. But I don't own a space heater. Just 2 reverse cycle air conditioners/heat pumps.
I have found its cheaper for me to use the HVAC system to heat the house and only use a space heater for the one room in the house that doesnt get warm quickly
Is there any reason you aren’t using whole house heat instead? In your area I would think you have a heat pump which is so much more efficient. I hate those little space heaters, they use an insane amount of power.
Depends on use case. My house has central heating and cooling and it works well for all rooms except my bonus Room (my office) so I have a portable heater and air conditioner. I have server equipment and multiple computers in my office so the heat it outputs can be crazy. So I use my smart home to turn the a/c and heater on off based on temps in my office.
Govee should add that feature to turn 1 heater off when the other is on. Maybe someone can sell them on it by showing them it could be a safety feature.
Not if you set up a smart home. Try using a Smart plug and then when you leave home and activate your alarm it switches off all Smart plugs you do not want on.
Do you guys even use space heaters or just crank the HVAC up?
Isnt a HVAC way cheaper to run? Space Heaters have a efficeny of 100% or below. A HVAC/Heat Pump should be way above that. I cant speak for HVACs because I never owned one, but Heat Pumps are around 250-500% efficent. Meaning that they convert 1kw of electrical power into 2,5-5kW of heat. A space heater might only be good in rooms that dont have HVAC or Central Heating, in which case a infrared heater is a good alternativ, but thats down to preference I guess.
I have an office in my basement, I use a smart space heater in the office. I also use one in the basement bathroom so it's not freezing when I get out of the shower and it shuts off automatically when there's nobody in the room for 30 minutes. Both of mine are wall mounted units. My automations are handled through Alexa and they are both through tuya.
I typically keep my house cold at night, so I use a standard plug-in space heater with a smart plug for my daughter's room. The plug is configured in SmartThings to turn on or off at certain temperatures using an Ecobee room sensor during the overnight hours. It works pretty well, but I think a smart space heater would be simpler and more reliable. Great video, Reed. Might pick one of these up. 👍
My apartment has radiator heat and very bad electrical wiring, so I can't use space heaters. The last time I had one, my electric bill went sky high.
Why is your circuit breaker outside? Could a criminal potentially turn off all your security and steal your stuff?
I would have placed the circuit breaker inside.
For the dual space heater tripping the breaker problem, add power-sensing power plugs to confirm the first one is off before turning the second one on. If the first one does not turn off within a timeframe, loop the off command until it is confirmed off, then turn on the second one. (The smart plugs are for power sensing only, not to turn the heaters on/off.)
I just use a smart plug with power monitoring..
Also oskilate? 😂
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to catch that pronunciation
English was never my strong suite. 🤣
I'd rather have a dumb (CHEAP) space heater that turns on when the outlet is given power. Then I'd just use Home Assistant to manage the entire climate function (with temp sensors in the room). Actually, this IS what I do. Edit: And Home Assistant has them scheduled for the two on the same circuit - only one can be on at a time. On 1 hour/Off 1 hour, alternating. And on HA reboot/restart, it just turns them both off until the next schedule period to prevent both from being on if the reboot happens at the top of the hour.
Yes! I’m so frustrated that our $70 (adjusted for today’s prices) tower fan requires pressing a button after it gets power to turn on, and no option to “remember previous state”. The crappy $20 fan we have (noisy) can be “smartified” and integrated into home assistant much easier, no IR blasters or anything similar.
Add a SwitchBot?
@@TechDogeth I have one of those in the living room, it's the only one I can't automate. Can't beat DUMB! :)
Then you’re at the same price as a smart heater that can be controlled remotely 100%
@@F_K3NT_D perhaps yes, but I have full local control without another third party app and the security and other problems they bring. And I can also use the smart receptacle year round when the heater is in the closet.
I’m putting the Govee 12” heaters in my kids rooms so I can make damn sure they cannot accidentally leave it on when they leave for school
I have the smaller one in my bathroom and the tower in my living room...both are in my RV. They are on seperate circuits, so no tripped breakers. I love being able to program them with the app. The best part of the app is that you can go into the settings menu and calibrate the heater's thermostat.
You can use the govee API to get it into home assistant and automate, this allowed me to use an aqara temperature sensor attached to my sons crib (the built in one is junk) and turned it on and off if it was above 73 or below 68. Works great, a bit of a pain to get the api setup, but there is some really good documentation for getting it into home assistant.
I have one that looks like an Edwardian fireplace. It also works as a nightlight. My previous apartment hvac wasn’t working well because they kept stalling on fixing a 2 dollar part. So it was cheaper to use my heater. I used a smart plug and could program it to turn on or off. I have thermal curtains up and even have two in the bedroom doorway so at night I can keep the bedroom warm without trying to heat the entire place up. I am in a warmer state this year but I will still set it up, just in case.
I haven't played around with the Google stuff before, but can you check that the other heater is if before turning the other one on? You probably cant even check that. If there is an outlet that would handle the amount of power the heaters use that might help. I only have Govee lights so I don't know if there is a HACS integration for Govee heaters, but I'm almost sure there is. Even if you use the Google SDK integration to control the Govee devices but us HA to automate it, that would probably work great. Though, the Google SDK integration uses the Govee tap-to-run scenes or whatever they are called. Not sure if the heaters do that.. Anyway, cool idea.
Oskilate?
I no speak english! 😭
Great video as always, thanks Reed! It's so annoying that Google won't let you properly automate space heaters, "safety rails" are the most frustrating thing in home automation. I understand how it can be dangerous, but let me turn on "advanced mode" or something, make me sign a waiver that I'm responsible for my own choices. I should be able to do whatever I want with the hardware I own, the artificial gates are so frustrating
Use an energy monitoring smart plug to get feedback to see if the heater is still on. I use this method to smartify my "dumb" electric fireplace. I have a maximum on-time limit of 2 hours, after which the Hubitat shuts off the smart plug power. Then 2 seconds later, turns the smart plug on again. When power comes back up, the fireplace "boots" and is off. I use a Broadlink IR blaster to turn on the fireplace.
Just make sure you're checkin the max amperage of your smart plug. Stay comfortably under that.
If you replace the breaker with double rating you can run 2 heaters and there is a bonus - your wall wiring will heat up and provide additional heat to the rooms.
.
.
.
.
For those commenting not to do this, buy a sense of humor, this was obviously a joke 😂
Govee has auto-run, so you can use that to say if one heater turns on, another turns off. Personally I use auto run to have my heater turn on at 70 degrees and off at 71.2 degrees, always at the low setting. You can get external temperature and humidity sensors from Govee and pair them with their heaters for better temperature control.
Do those come in Blue Steel 😙?
Any reason you do not just smart plugs to control these, when one is on the other goes off. Also that way any dumb heater becomes smarter. Also if you have an alarm you can set it up when you activate your alarm at home it automatically switches off all Heaters connected to Smart plugs. Nice safety feature.
My Goveelife Space heater just turned up today. Have something to set up this weekend.
Didn't realize it gets that cold out there!
I know right! Well only part of my house even gets chilly. The kitchen area is south facing so it stays perfectly at 70 degrees all winter long. The north part of the house gets colder.
You are heating only with the HVAC? Into the flor (pipes) or the air? (I'm just wondering, i am from Europe)
We must be thinking on the save wavelength lol The Zoolander references popped up in my mind before you even cued them up 😛
Were you able to get the Govee heater into Home Assistant. If so can you share how you did that or point me in the right direction. I got the small heater you recommended but I can't seem to get it into Home Assistant to be able to write an automation. Thanks
I've been looking for a smart space heater that incorporates into home assistant recently. I was looking at these or the heat storm (tuya) ones but I seem like they require the cloud to work, which isn't ideal. It would be really nice if the local tuya or govee integration in HA supported space heaters. Nonetheless, it looks like I might just need to result to a dumb spaceheater with a smart plug with energy monitoring attached to it.
What size breaker do you guys have in the US on 110v? Im in the UK and just got one these it pulls max 1.5Kw so at 230v that only 6.5 Amps. Our socket rings are on a 32amp circuit so I could run 4 of these no problem as any other bits like TV etc don't really use any power.
This is where the Zooz Zen 15 really shines. You can use the power monitoring of the Zen 15 to augment your automations. Now, you'll always know if and when a heater is drawing power from a given receptacle.
Regardless of the physical size, all of those heaters are the same output. 1500W. Which is 12.5A which is the max continuous for a 15A circuit.
I am here trying to understand the heating capacity differences between the different sizes.
When your kids are old enough for phones and computers and tvs and other things you’re gonna probably have that circuit breaker tripping a lot my friend, especially if they’re on the same circuit
Interesting. Dyson heaters manufactured after March 2019 can't control heat via the app due to UL 1278 standards. I assume the Govee heaters aren't complying or aren't UL rated.
Great video but the google programming is beyond my ability. I have the small space heater and thermometer hooked up but it keeps turning off. How do you set them on your phone to operate 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. It is in “”Auto” with 50F set temp and “Auto Stop” but must be doing something wrong with the “Scheduling”. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Mike
Why do you use space heaters thy use much more energy than you home heating.
I have my dumb parabolic heater plugged into a zooz zen15 smart plug. Zooz doesn't like it because it's on their "do not use" list. They claimed in-rush current would destroy the plug. Bollocks. I'm a retired industrial electrician and still have my Fluke 337 which will measure in-rush current. The Zen15 is rated at 15 amps. My heater has a 2.7 amp in-rush current which is actually less than the running current when the heater element is hot. My continous running amp reading is 3.4 amps. In-rush current depends on what alloy the heating element. Zooz's other claim is that the Underwriter's Lab forbids plugging a space heater into a smart plug. Consider this: if you plug it into a duplex outlet, turn it on and forget to turn it off when you leave the house, what are you going to do? A smart plug allows you to turn it off remotely, turn it on or off as part of a routine, or let a smoke detector turn it off.
I have a space heater that has a remote control. I worked around turning on and off by using both a smart plug and ir blasting. I made part of the of turn on/off script to turn the smart plug on and off. I also have it set to regulate according to room temperature. This feature is only available if both my wife and I are in bed.
Are there any Smart Space Coolers without any he Window Attachment?
I have a problem idk you can solve! I need a space heater that auto turns on when the temp dips below a certain temp BUT also can schedule it to increase a temp at a certain time? I have a special need kiddo who won’t sleep with blankets but around 3am her room gets colder than the set 72 degrees on the heater she’s also sensitive to lights
Tripped a breaker?
*laughs in 240 volts* 🇬🇧🧐
Yup.
230v here in Aus. 16amp circuit breakers. We also can get 2400w heaters instead of 1800w since we have more volts.
But I don't own a space heater. Just 2 reverse cycle air conditioners/heat pumps.
Did you check every outlet in each bedroom to see if all of them are on the same breaker? I've found there is usually a mix in most rooms.
Thanks Reed.
I have found its cheaper for me to use the HVAC system to heat the house and only use a space heater for the one room in the house that doesnt get warm quickly
Why did I expect this video to loop?
Wish I know how to write scripts for my apt. But I might just get the small heater. Thanks
So which space heater is Blue Steel and which one is Magnum?
As a central European I really don't get it.
we need govee intergration with home assistant!
Is there any reason you aren’t using whole house heat instead? In your area I would think you have a heat pump which is so much more efficient. I hate those little space heaters, they use an insane amount of power.
Depends on use case. My house has central heating and cooling and it works well for all rooms except my bonus Room (my office) so I have a portable heater and air conditioner. I have server equipment and multiple computers in my office so the heat it outputs can be crazy. So I use my smart home to turn the a/c and heater on off based on temps in my office.
Govee should add that feature to turn 1 heater off when the other is on. Maybe someone can sell them on it by showing them it could be a safety feature.
Isn't a dumb heater with a smart plug just as good?
Have I been saying oscillate wrong my entire life??
Huh? My furnace takes care of heating no problem. A modern balance HVAC system does wonders.
Your panel for your home is outside?
OK if you just had to use the worst heating source on earth, it's the crap DID I LEAVE IT ON? use case.
Not if you set up a smart home. Try using a Smart plug and then when you leave home and activate your alarm it switches off all Smart plugs you do not want on.
Another reason: they paid to advert them 😂
I thought this dude lived in the hottest part of America ?
These things use way too much electricity.... non starter.